Anglican clergy are to be instructed that they should offer healing to their congregations alongside the NHS, that miraculous cures should not be ruled out and that in some circumstances diocesan exorcists may need to be called in.

Leaflets suggesting that the vicar may be able to help in curing the sick are recommended to be placed in church pews across the country from today in an attempt to head off public credulity about alternative medicines.

The clergy are being offered "practical guidelines" to develop healing ministries in their parishes with the instruction that healing the sick is a gospel imperative.

The Rt Rev Dominic Walker, Bishop of Reading, one of the authors of the report, A Time to Heal, claimed: "There is a huge spiritual quest especially among younger people and they often do not know where to look, which makes them very vulnerable.

"They believe anything at all. New Age is like a supermarket trolley allowing them to pick one thing after another off the shelves and we want to help them find a real spiritual life."

A 58 page report outlining how to conduct a healing ministry is to be circulated to all vicars, extrapolated from a fuller 400 page document which clergymen will need to buy separately for fuller details.

The booklet offers practical advice as well as spiritual guidance, suggesting safety tips such as that healing should always take place on a carpet in case the patient falls to the floor so that they do not injure themselves.

Miracles are not ruled out by the Church of England but the report advises that those who think they are cured should go on taking their medication just in case.

Clergy are told that the role of tender loving care should not be ignored in spiritual ministrations.

The report, produced by a working party including senior clergy, theologians, psychiatrists and doctors, is the first guidance of its sort that the church has issued for 42 years.

The Rt Rev John Perry, Bishop of Chelmsford, who chaired the group, said: "There is nothing predictable in the ministry of healing except the assurance of God's love and care. Where physical healing does not take place, a healing on an emotional, psychological or spiritual level may be the primary need."

A chapter on deliverance from evil warns vicars not to try freelance exorcism at home but does suggest that an exorcist, appointed in each diocese, might have to be called in.

The panel seems uncertain whether people really are possessed of the devil. They said there was a possibility that evils such as poverty, racism, cruelty and discrimination could be overlooked in the quest to cast out demons from disturbed congregants.

"There is a danger that exorcism can become a form of Christian magic and a means of denying evil rather than encountering it and doing something practical about it," the report warned.

Similarly it was cautious about miracles without ruling them out altogether: "We seem to be moving towards the view that, whatever happened in the past, today God does not normally work through that which can be defined as miraculous.

"A Christian may claim to have experienced a miracle and if the experience strengthened their faith, that claim should be treated with respect. If a claimant declares that they are going to throw away their medicine as a result of their experience, they should be warned to consult their doctor first."

The curative power of faith

The healing ministry is available in the following ways:

 Publicly as part of church services

 At healing services and in institutions such as hospitals and residential homes